Have you ever taken the time to examine your monthly bills? If not, you may be in trouble of careless spending or being drowned by debt. On that note, lets break down your income and monthly bills to seeing where your finances are going.

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Income

Main job

Your full time job will most likely be your primary source of income. How much money you earn dictates what you can do and have.

Side job, random income

Make sure you also total up any income you receive on a consistent basis from working a side job. Whether that job brings in $20, $400, or more, it is still income. Also, it is still helping you pay your bills and live.

The total amount of money you bring in monthly from your main job and side job is your overall income. This will be the number from which you will subtract your bills and extracurricular expenses.

You may also receive money from government assistance programs, claims, or more. However, because these are not things you have worked for necessarily, do not count them as income. Allow them to be freely enjoyed as they arrive.

Monthly bills

Consistent monthly bills

There are some things in life that you cannot get away from and one of them will be your monthly bills. There are companies that you will owe as they support your life's needs. The best thing you can do is manage your lifestyle so that you do not have you to pay these bill collectors extra money.

Take a look at what you usually pay for your gas and electric, water, trash, cell phone, and insurance bills monthly. This number can be trusted as these bills can exist for a good portion of your life.

Think about how much you usually spend on gas and groceries. These bills can fluctuate, but they are real and must be considered.

Extracurricular monthly bills

Gym memberships and book or music club subscriptions are hobby expenses that can be easily controlled. You may not consider these as hindrances to your finances, but they are not free. Make sure your leisure money is not causing you to stress over your monthly budget.

Temporary monthly bills

Examine your rent or house payment, car payment, doctor bills, credit card debt, and other debts. Though these bills may exist, get excited. Why, because these bills can one day disappear as they are paid off.

Summary

Afterwards, add up your consistent, extracurricular, and temporary monthly bills. Then take the total and subtract it from your total income.

Hopefully, you have a good portion of money left. If not, work backwards by seeing if you can lower or cut out some of your temporary expenses and extracurricular monthly bills.

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